Luhnow On Mills Firing, Possible Replacements

Late last night, the Astros fired manager Brad Mills and coaches Bobby Meacham (first base) and Mike Barnett (hitting). This morning, the club announced their replacements, all on an interim basis: manager Tony DeFrancesco, first base coach Dan Radison, and hitting coach Ty Van Burkleo. The "getting to know you" phase shouldn't be difficult for DeFrancesco as seven of the nine players in the Astros' starting linuep today played for him in the minors, tweeted Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Here's the latest out of Houston:

The coaching staff had no sense the firings were immenient, instead thinking changes would be made after the season, according to ESPN's Buster Olney (via Twitter).

General Manager Jeff Luhnow, however, told reporters, including McTaggart, the decision was made a week ago. "Once that decision was made, it made sense to make changes sooner rather than later, not having a lame-duck administration. The mix wasn't working, the chemistry wasn't working."

Speculation has already started on Mills' successor. Joe Pettini, Chris Maloney, and Jim Riggleman are viewed as three potential replacements, writes Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Pettini was the Cardinals' bench coach before joining Luhnow in Houston in the same capacity. Maloney is the Cardinals' first base coach. Riggleman, previously the manager of the Cubs, Padres, Mariners and Nationals, is managing the Reds' Double-A team.

Oh no… They may not have the best *close* to MLB and lots, but they keep drafting like they did in 2012 and they certainly should several years from now. My issue is whoever takes over now really has no chance for the next 2-3 years of playing .500 ball and that is a bad thing for a manager, unless ownership is willing to acknowledge that problem beforehand.

it is almost like coming into a expansion franchise. Houston let the farm system run down under previous ownership and not much close to helping. They need a few years before a real chance to compete and i think Kapler **could** be a good manager, with young players as well, but i wouldn’t want to see him black balled after 1, maybe 1 and a half seasons because he was never given a chance with Houston and the lack of talent is all.

Ausmus would make sense. Extremely bright, played for Houston. Seems like he would be patient as well. Obviously the is Biggio and others, but not sure Biggio wants to manage yet. He seems happy coaching High Schoolers (of course most of the Astros current players are not much older)

I’d love to have Biggio but I don’t think he would leave his high school job as his son is still there. Bagwell would be a good hitting coach as he had success the few months he was here. Ausmus would be a good choice but I don’t see it happening. My #1 would be Francona but I think they will take someone else we don’t expect.

Riggleman should not be allowed back on the big league level. Let him languish as a Minor League skipper, so long as he’s not teaching kids in the Reds system how to be quitters… Blacklist candidate, IMO…

Hmmm-Boston fires Bobby V and Mr. Valentine comes back to Texas, taking the reigns of Houston? Ausmus would be the only one of the seven I would like. Try and get Wade Boggs or Rod Carew as hitting coach. I doubt Bags would want it again, and Biggio still has a son in high school.

I can’t see how it doesn’t end up being Ausmus if he really wants the job. He’s patient, he’s smart, he’s not very far removed from the game as a player, so he’ll be active with the team, and he’s universally respected by MLB field and FO personnel. He’s also a fan favorite in Houston, so he’s going to be given the benefit of the doubt and a longer leash far more than anyone else. If Luhnow is dead set on Joe Pettini, then I’ll trust him, but from a fan’s perspective, it has to be Ausmus.

Ausmus will bring a certain amount of good will that could be important to a lot of Houston fans ready to throw in the towel on this franchise. I doubt he’s the best choice on a neutral discussion but I keep expecting somebody on Crawford St. to realize how unhappy the remnants of the fan base are before it all implodes around them.